SC Cleared Applied AI Systems Engineer/Architect - Outside IR35 at fortice, Remote, 6 Months, £Negotiable Rate

Applied AI Systems Engineer

Location: UK (Remote with occasional travel to customer sites)

Security Clearance: Current SC Clearance is essential

Contract: Initial 12-month contract with extension options

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Applied AI Systems Engineer to design, build, deploy and support AI-enabled systems for Ministry of Defence customers operating in secure and mission-critical environments.

This isn't a research role or a prototype lab. We're looking for someone who has built production systems that are relied upon by real users in operational environments.

You'll take ownership of technical delivery from initial design through deployment, documentation, testing and ongoing support, working across secure cloud, on-premise and air-gapped environments.

The ideal candidate understands that successful AI systems are more than models-they're secure, reliable, maintainable systems that solve operational problems.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design, build and deploy production-grade AI applications and operational tooling
• Build secure AI systems capable of operating within cloud, on-premise and fully air-gapped environments
• Deploy and support local LLMs, RAG pipelines, vector databases and offline AI inference services
• Package, deploy and maintain software into highly secure customer environments
• Configure and troubleshoot Linux infrastructure, GPU platforms, networking and Docker-based deployments
• Develop APIs and user interfaces using technologies such as Python, FastAPI, React and TypeScript
• Take ownership of technical workstreams from design through deployment and operational support
• Debug complex production issues and perform root cause analysis across software and infrastructure
• Implement monitoring, logging and observability to support reliable operational systems
• Work directly with MOD stakeholders, operators and engineering teams to deliver mission-focused capability
• Contribute to solution architecture and technical decision making
• Support demonstrations, trials and customer deployments

Documentation Matters

A key part of this role is producing high-quality technical documentation throughout the delivery life cycle.

You'll be expected to create and maintain:

• Architecture documentation
• Deployment and installation guides
• Operational runbooks and SOPs
• Troubleshooting guides
• Technical handover documentation
• Configuration and build documentation
• Implementation notes, screenshots and deployment evidence where required

Essential Experience

• Previous experience delivering technology within the UK Ministry of Defence or Defence Digital environment is essential
• Strong software engineering experience with Python and Linux
• Hands-on experience with Docker and containerised deployments
• Experience deploying AI-enabled applications into secure production environments
• Experience running local AI models and offline inference workloads
• Experience building systems that have been used by operational end users, ideally within defence or other mission-critical environments
• Experience delivering capability into air-gapped or highly restricted environments
• Strong understanding of secure-by-design principles
• Excellent debugging, troubleshooting and systems engineering skills
• Experience implementing logging, monitoring and operational support processes
• Strong testing and validation practices with a focus on production quality
• Demonstrable experience owning technical delivery from requirements through to deployment and support
• Excellent technical documentation and communication skills

Desirable Experience

• Experience with RAG architectures and vector databases
• GPU infrastructure and AI optimisation
• Infrastructure as Code and deployment automation
• Kubernetes or orchestration platforms
• CI/CD pipelines
• Experience supporting live operational systems

What We're Looking For

We're interested in engineers who have built real systems for real users.

People who have taken ownership of delivery, solved difficult engineering problems, supported systems in production and understand what it takes to deliver secure, reliable capability into operational environments.

If your experience is primarily limited to AI prototypes or experimentation, this role is unlikely to be the right fit. We're looking for engineers with a proven track record of delivering production systems that have successfully operated in the field.